The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), has declared the opening of a new 2.2 MW solar power generation facility installed by SunEdison at the university campus.
The new solar farm is placed over 17 acres of land owned by the university that remains close to Tom Nichols Road off Maryland Rt. 388 (West Post Office Road).
The University has contracted a strategic service accord with SunEdison, a company that formulates, invests, operates, maintains and monitors solar plants, to invest in the new solar farm and operate it without any investment from the part of UMES. The University will buy the power generated from solar facility at pre-fixed rates during the period of the contracted years to reduce its dependence on grid connected utility power.
The new solar farm incorporates around 7,800 solar panels and anticipates generating over 3.3 million kilowatt hours of clean energy in the first year of its operation. During the contracted period of 20 years the panels will produce over 61 million kWh of clean power, which can be distributed to electrify over 5,700 houses a year. The power generated from the facility can offset over 121 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions during the 20 years of its operation, which can be equated to removing of over 11,800 cars from plying on the roads for a year.